FRANKLIN SPRINGS, GA--When athletes are injured during a game or practice, they are helped off the field by the team’s athletic trainer. What goes on behind the scenes and throughout the treatment and recovery process often goes unnoticed. The Emmanuel College Athletic Department is grateful for its partnership with the Athens Orthopedic Clinic, a group that has done so much behind the scenes for the more than 500 EC student athletes and their coaches. AOC is the largest orthopedic group in Northeast Georgia and offers state of the art facilities and care. For the last five years, AOC has served Emmanuel College Athletics by providing orthopedic care to Emmanuel student athletes. The partnership was started by AOC’s head PA Kelly Ward (PA-C) and the AOC Urgent Care Center along with Emmanuel’s Chief Athletic Trainer Sandy Campbell (ATC, LAT).

Matt Waldron

​ Dr. Brad Register and his AOC team serve as Emmanuel’s primary orthopedic group, offering exceptional services to student athletes two full days per week at their Royston clinic and on Monday afternoons at their Commerce clinic. The AOC Urgent Care Center is also open to EC student athletes seven days per week. Between Dr. Register, Matt Waldron (PA-C), and Becca Nyquist (ATC/OTC), the student athletes at Emmanuel are well taken care of. AOC also assists Emmanuel through donating equipment to be used in the EC Athletic Training Center. In April, the clinic donated an Extremity Whirlpool at no cost to Emmanuel. This device is designed to allow treatment to the forearm, hand, elbow, lower leg and ankle. In the past, AOC has also provided Emmanuel Athletics with several therapeutic modalities units such as electrical stimulation/ultra sound and game-ready units, helping make EC’s Athletic Training Center a state of the art facility. Dr. Register says he feels blessed to work with athletes like Emmanuel’s and is happy to help in whatever way he and his team possibly can. "We have been taking care of Emmanuel College student-athletes for over five years now, and I'm always amazed at the quality of the students at Emmanuel. They are consistently respectful, intelligent, and highly motivated. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to work with such athletes and also very fortunate to work with Sandy Campbell and her athletic training staff. “We at AOC are happy to help out in the care of Emmanuel athletes in any way possible, and hopefully the new whirlpool will provide injured athletes another tool to return from injury as quickly and safely as possible," he added. When Mrs. Campbell was brought on at Emmanuel as the Head Athletic Trainer in June 2011, starting a partnership with AOC was one of her first priorities. “It is an honor and blessing to have AOC serve as Emmanuel College Orthopedic Medical Healthcare Team,” Mrs. Campbell said. “Dr. Brad Register and staff offer the best sport specific care to our athletic program. The value of services offered and provided are second to none!” Their partnership goes beyond the AOC Royston office though, as Athens Orthopedic promotes their partnerships with both Emmanuel College and the University of Georgia at the annual Georgia Sports Medicine Educational Seminar. Athens Orthopedic Clinic has been providing comprehensive orthopedic care to Athens and surrounding communities since 1966. AOC is a healthcare facility with a long-standing tradition of excellence and service. As a total orthopedic care center, their physicians specialize in orthopedic surgery and handle the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and injuries of the bones, muscles, tendons, nerves and ligaments in both adults and children. Their team also works directly with the University of Georgia athletic program providing sport-specific care and helping establish a co-op program with the UGA athletic training program to provide post-graduate AT students with work directly serving as yearly interns.For more information about EC’s Athletics, please visit www.goeclions.com.